Cantor distances himself from Lugar despite GOP 'Young Guns' support

By Russell Berman - 05/08/12 11:19 AM ET

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday distanced himself from the candidacy of Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), saying he had “not gotten involved” in the closely watched race even though a group linked to Cantor is backing the embattled Indiana senator.

The Young Guns Network, an advocacy group run by former top Cantor aides, is actively supporting Lugar in his primary fight with Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock and has spent more than $100,000 sending mailers urging a vote for Lugar. The primary is Tuesday, and Lugar is expected to lose.

“I have not gotten involved in that race, and this is an outside group that I have no control over,” Cantor told reporters in the Capitol when asked what message Lugar’s defeat could send.

“Listen, our party is a party of ideas, and we are out there in an active debate over the direction of this country. One thing that brings us all together is that we believe this government has grown entirely too big and we have an impending deficit and debt situation that we have got to address. We’re about solving problems, and we also [know] that in conjunction with that effort that we have got to get the economy growing again.”

Cantor noted that he was in Indiana to help Republican candidates on the ballot. Along with Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), he is an original member of the “Young Guns” formed to help lead the GOP back into the House majority.

He drew criticism from some fellow Republicans for his support of freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in a primary fight with veteran Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), which included a donation to a super-PAC whose goal is to defeat incumbents.

Cantor on Tuesday also declined to comment on that anti-incumbent group, the Campaign for Primary Accountability, which is not involved in Lugar’s primary fight against Mourdock.

“I really don’t have anything to comment on that particular super-PAC,” the majority leader said. “There are none of us federal officials that can be connected, involved with these super-PACs and their decisions.”